Truist Financial Corp Sells 9,335 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,335 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 43.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1,118.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ALE. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Sunday, October 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE opened at $64.34 on Friday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.14 and a 12 month high of $65.86. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The business had revenue of $354.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.7005 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 67.79%.

About ALLETE

ALLETE, Inc operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. In addition, the company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 150,000 retail customers and 14 non-affiliated municipal customers.